[UK-CONTEST] RoPoCo

[Roger G3SXW]

I thoroughly enjoyed RoPoCo some 20+ years ago. A great format. But I gave 
it up because there wasn't enough activity. The last half-hour was horribly 
slow. Winning scores were always around 60-70 QSOs. Sound familiar? Nothing 
has changed.

Sixty QSOs in 120 minutes is one every three minutes. Yuk! The best thing 
now would be to cut it to 1.5 hours. Get it back to being fun and more folks 
will join in. Indeed this approach could also be applied to several other 
RSGB contests.
73 de Roger/G3SXW.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clive Whelan" <clive.whelan at btinternet.com>
Cc: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 6:08 PM
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] RoPoCo


> Ed
>
> It's really verrrry simple, change the time slot and activity will
> increase dramatically. Don't and Ropoco will wither and die.
>
> The best (and most demanding) time one can have in any RSGB contest; the
> worst of all time slots. A tale of two contests?
>
>
> 73
>
>
> Clive
> GW3NJW
>
> Ed -- GW3SQX wrote:
>> Re: RoPoCo
>>
>> Managed 65 QSOs here in "pyjama" mode (well, it is before my getting-up 
>> time
>> for Sundays!).  This was mostly running, in several places, and some S&P.
>> It's hard to know the right combination, and very tempting to give up
>> running and start searching, but if you know that most people are going 
>> to
>> get 40-70 QSOs, you can tolerate 3 minutes between QSOs -- even longer 
>> later
>> in the contest.  I used SD (normally I'm on Win-test), but managed to get
>> used to the non-standard keystrokes required.  Could do with a band-map,
>> though, to help in the skipping over obvious dupes in S&P.
>>
>> All in all, this is an good way to spend 2 hours on a Sunday morning 
>> twice a
>> year.  However, my suggestion for  increasing interest, which I've made
>> before, is to introduce a couple of 2-hour phone versions of the contest.
>> Shock, horror!  Then have awards for top three contesters in the four 
>> events
>> aggregated (normalised, perhaps).  The format is fine, the duration 
>> perfect,
>> but the whole thing needs a shot in the arm, with some new people brought
>> in.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Ed
>>
>> P.S.  I had what appeared to be a Frequency Fight with Lionel, G5LP, 
>> about
>> 90 minutes through, but it turned out not to be such.  I was calling CQ,
>> things were going slowly, and I was waiting a few seconds to see if any 
>> QRS
>> people would call.  Lionel came upon what seemed to be a clear frequency,
>> sent "?".  Hearing this, I assumed he had heard the end of my call, and 
>> sent
>> my call again, as one does if it seems that someone has heard a few dits 
>> at
>> the end of a CQ and wants to know if you're someone new.  Of course, he 
>> was
>> testing the frequency (i.e. abbreviated "QRL?"), but I then heard his 
>> call
>> and started to work him.  His call was the start of a CQ (he was a dupe),
>> which I found surprising -- he's usually very well-mannered!  We seemed 
>> to
>> part company on good terms, which is just as well, since there is plenty 
>> of
>> room for all in this contest on 80m, but it's interesting to note that 
>> this
>> sort of thing can happen with the best of intentions.
>>
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>>
>>
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